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Thessaloniki International Airport "Macedonia" (Greek: Διεθνής Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Θεσσαλονίκης «Μακεδονία»,[4] Diethnís Kratikós Aeroliménas Thessaloníkis "Makedonía") (IATA: SKG, ICAO: LGTS), formerly known as Mikra Airport and officially known as Macedonia International Airport (Greek: Διεθνές Αεροδρόμιο Μακεδονία), is located about 15 km SE of the city center of Thessaloniki, Greece at Thermi.
The airport is the second largest state owned and operated airport in the country after Heraklion airport on the isle of Crete. It opened in 1930 and was the second busiest airport in Greece in terms of flights served and the third busiest in terms of passengers served in 2012[5] having served over 4 million passengers. It is the main airport of Northern Greece and serves the city of Thessaloniki (the second-largest city in Greece), the popular tourist destination of Chalkidiki and the surrounding cities of the region.
The airport’s terminal consists of three floors. The ground floor serves arrivals only and is divided into two sections: international/extra-Schengen arrivals and domestic/intra-Schengen arrivals. The first floor serves departures and also includes a shopping center. On this floor there are 34 check-in counters, waiting areas, bars, stores that sell tobacco and magazines and various airlines’ offices. The second floor houses two restaurants and several bars with views to the runways.
The airport has two runways (10–28 and 16–34) and two taxiways. There are 22 stands for narrow-body aircraft and about 20 for light ones. Macedonia International Airport is a hub for Astra Airlines and a secondary hub for Aegean Airlines. Ellinair and Ryanair are set to start using the airport as a hub within 2014.
History
During World War I the area that the airport currently occupies was used as an airfield and it continued operating as an airfield during World War II. At the time of the German occupation of Greece major projects took place, such as the creation of a 600m runway, while in 1948 the airport started operations as a civil airport for the first time.
In 1950 the already existing (10/28) runway got paved with asphalt at a length of 1,800m and in 1952 it was extended to 2,000m. It was the same year that the first airport building was completed, with a control tower on the roof. One year later a new runway (16/34) was built. In 1958 the runway 10/28 got reconstructed and extended to a total length of 2,440m (current length), while runway 16/34 was extended to 2,400m, with its completion in 1972. In 2004 a new parallel taxiway of the 16/34, was opened for use.
In September 1965 a new terminal building opened on a new location (current location). In the period between 1968 and 1973, the terminal was expanded, with the construction of a second floor and its first motorway junction. Due to the earthquake of 1978 in Thessaloniki, the control tower was destroyed, so a new one was constructed, independent of the main terminal building. The next expansion of the terminal took place in two stages, with the projects starting in 1991 and 1993 respectively. The municipality of Thessaloniki, as European Capital of Culture for 1997, took over a projects for the aesthetic intervention, renovation, modernisation and reorganisation of the spaces of the building.
The terminal building took its current form, when an additional of 19,000m² were added to the western and eastern side of the terminal building, completed in November 2000 and June 2003 respectively. The western extension included the widening of the international departures area (new Extra-Schengen area ), including new administration offices, a new health station and the new station control of Olympic Airlines. The eastern expansion included a new check-in hall, new waiting halls and additional administrative offices for airlines. Today the terminal has a total floor area of 32,000m². Finally, during 2004–2006 the new motorway junction was completed on the level of the departures entrance of the Terminal and new parking spaces for cars, buses and taxis were created.
Airlines and destinations
Runway 10–28
Two Aegean Airlines planes, one in Star Alliance livery, at Macedonia International Airport (June 2011).
An Aegean Airlines Airbus A320-200 at Macedonia Airport, sometime before departing for Frankfurt (April 2010)
A Ryanair plane from London Stansted Airport parked on the tarmac, with the airport terminal in the background.
Scheduled flights
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines | Athens, Berlin-Tegel (begins 5 June 2014), Brussels-National (begins 2 June 2014), Chania, Cologne/Bonn (begins 3 June 2014), Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Heraklion, Larnaca, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Mytilene, Nuremberg, Rhodes, Stuttgart Summer seasonal: Cephalonia (begins 2 July 2014), Kos, Mykonos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rostov-on-Don (resumes 6 June 2014),[6] Saint Petersburg, Santorini, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion |
| Aeroflot | Summer seasonal: Moscow-Sheremetyevo |
| Air Berlin | Summer seasonal: Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart |
| Air Serbia | Belgrade |
| Alitalia | Seasonal: Milan-Linate (begins 2 August 2014) [7] |
| Alitalia operated by Alitalia CityLiner |
Summer seasonal: Rome-Fiumicino |
| Astra Airlines | Chios (PSO),[8] Corfu (PSO),[8] Kalamata (PSO),[8] Samos (PSO)[8] Summer seasonal: Chania, Karpathos, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini, Zakynthos Charter: Kiev-Boryspil,[9] Mineralnye Vody,[10] Rostov-on-Don[9] |
| Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways |
Vienna |
| British Airways | Summer seasonal: London-Gatwick[11] |
| Cyprus Airways | Larnaca |
| EasyJet | Berlin-Schönefeld, London-Gatwick, Manchester,[12] Rome-Fiumicino |
| EasyJet Switzerland | Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg |
| Ellinair | Charter: Kiev-Borispil |
| Germania | Summer seasonal: Düsseldorf, Munich [13] |
| Germanwings | Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart Summer seasonal: Hamburg, Hanover |
| Niki | Summer seasonal: Vienna |
| Ryanair | Athens, Beauvais (begins 28 October 2014), Brussels-Charleroi, Chania, Hahn, London-Stansted, Milan/Bergamo-Il Caravaggio, Paphos, Pisa,[14] Rome-Ciampino, Warsaw-Modlin,[14] Weeze Summer seasonal: Bremen, Girona, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Moss/Rygge, Stockholm-Skavsta |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Summer seasonal: Copenhagen,[15] Stockholm-Arlanda [15] |
| Sky Express | Ikaria (PSO),[16] Kastoria ,[17] Lemnos (PSO),[16] Skyros (PSO)[8] |
| SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines |
Summer seasonal: Ostrava (begins 16 June 2014),[18] Prague |
| SunExpress Deutschland | Summer seasonal: Frankfurt[19][20] |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Summer seasonal: Zürich (resumes 3 June 2014)[21] |
| TAROM | Bucharest |
| Transavia.com | Amsterdam |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul-Atatürk |
| Ukraine International Airlines | Summer seasonal: Kiev-Boryspil |
| UTair Aviation | Moscow-Vnukovo |
| VIM Airlines | Moscow-Domodedovo |
| Vueling | Summer seasonal: Barcelona (begins 3 July 2014)[22] |
| Wizz Air | Summer seasonal: Budapest |
Summer charter flights
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines | Kazan,[23] Yerevan |
| Astra Airlines | Arkhangelsk, Astana (begins 1 June 2014), Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Luhansk, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow-Domodedovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Perm, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saratov, Stavropol, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Zaporizhia[9] |
| Atlantic Airways | Copenhagen |
| British Airways operated by BA CityFlyer |
London-Heathrow[24] |
| Belavia | Minsk[9] |
| Bingo Airways | Katowice |
| Ellinair | Belgorod (begins 5 June 2014), Bryansk (begins 30 May 2014), Chișinău (begins 8 June 2014), Dnipropetrovsk (begins 27 May 2014), Donetsk (begins 26 May 2014), Kaliningrad (begins 28 May 2014), Kharkiv (begins 27 May 2014), Kiev-Boryspil (begins 29 May 2014), Lviv (begins 26 May 2014), Odessa (begins 4 June 2014), Riga (begins 29 May 2014), Saratov (begins 28 May 2014), Stavropol (begins 28 May 2014), Voronezh (begins 26 May 2014)[9] |
| Enter Air | Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań,[25] Warsaw-Chopin |
| Hamburg Airways | Düsseldorf |
| Orenair | Orenburg[9] |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen,[26] Stockholm-Arlanda |
| Thomas Cook Airlines | London-Gatwick, Manchester |
| Thomson Airways | East Midlands, London-Gatwick, Manchester |
| Travel Service Airlines | Brno, Ostrava, Prague |
| Ural Airlines | Krasnodar[9] |
| Yamal Airlines | Tyumen[9] |
Passenger and cargo traffic
History of passenger traffic at the airport from 1994 to 2010.
Between 1994 and 2010, Thessaloniki International Airport saw a rise in passenger traffic equal to 76%, from 2.2 million in 1994 to 3.9 million in 2010.[5] Between 2003 and 2008 the airport saw a passenger traffic increase of 19.1% from 3.5 million to almost 4.2 million passengers, an all-time high. However the number of passengers dropped in next years, to the current 3.96 million passengers.[5]
Apart from passengers, the airport also handled 8.2 thousand tons of freight in 2010, a considerable drop from the 21.4 thousand tons it handled in 1997.[5]
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2,087,453
2,038,373
Facilities
Passenger terminal
Basic
Inside the airport there is one restaurant, four coffee-bars and a tobacco store. Furthermore, except from the duty-free shop, there are stores selling traditional products, jewellery, accessories and clothes. Passengers also can utilize a luggage secure-wrapping service and luggage lockers. An Hellenic Post post office and automated teller machines are available on the passengers’ departure area. There is also an office of the Greek National Tourism Organisation. Finally, car hire companies can be found in the airport such as AVIS, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt.
Lounges
Macedonia International Airport operates two passenger lounges:
Aegean Club Lounge, used by business class passengers of Aegean Airlines and Star Alliance Gold members.
CIP Lounge, used by business class passengers and the gold members of Olympic Air
Aeroclub
The airport of Thessaloniki is also the home ground of Aeolus Aviation Academy, which is a privately owned FTO and Thessaloniki Aeroclub, both offering pilot training.
Access
Public transport
The airport is served on a 24-hour basis by OASTH (Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization).
- To downtown Thessaloniki
- 78/78A/78N
- To Chalkidiki bus station[1]:
- 78A/79 to A. S. IKEA (Anatolikos Stathmos IKEA), catch bus number 36/36A/36B to Ktel Chalkidikis
- 78/78N to Emporiko Kentro stop, catch bus number 36/36A/36B from A. S. IKEA (Anatolikos Stathmos IKEA) OASTH bus terminus to Ktel Chalkidikis
- To Macedonia Intercity Bus Station[2], where buses depart for many cities of mainland Greece, plus Corfu, Crete, Lefkada and Zakynthos. A map of the destinations served is hosted on the station's website: Bus Information – Map
- 78/78A/78N to T. S. KTEL (Termatikos Stathmos KTEL)
- To Thessaloniki's train station
- 78/78A/78N to N. S. Stathmos (Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos)
- To the port of Thessaloniki
- 78 to Plateia Aristotelous stop, which is 500 metres from the port
- 78N to Antigonidon stop, which is 700 metres from the port
- To Alba Trans bus terminus[3], where buses depart for Albania
- 78/78A/78N to N. S. Stathmos (Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos), buses depart from Giannitson street
- To Crazy Holidays[4], where buses depart for Albania
- 78/78A/78N to N. S. Stathmos (Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos), buses depart from Kalou Michail 14 street
- To Olympic Lines bus stop[5], where buses depart for Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia (from 26is Oktovriou street)
- 78 to I.K.A. stop
- 78N to Kolomvou stop
In September 2010 it was announced that an extension of the under construction Thessaloniki Metro to the airport is under consideration. The manufacturing company considers the possibility of constructing the extension with an over-ground rail-based transportation system, such as a monorail.
Car and Taxi
The airport is directly connected with the city's southeast major road arteries, the EO16 and the A25 (the Thessaloniki-Chalkidiki motorway) via the ΕΟ67; offering direct access via the Thessaloniki ring road to the A1/E75 and A2/E90 motorways; making transportation to and from Macedonia International Airport relatively easy. A total of 2,285 parking spaces for cars exist at the front of the terminal building and taxis are available at the designated taxi waiting area, located outside the arrivals exit. The taxi fare to the city center is approximately €15–20 from 5 am to 12 pm, while from 12 pm to 5 am expect to be charged an extra €10 for this particular route.
Future
As part of a comprehensive masterplan released by the government in 2002, several projects have been started to improve Macedonia International Airport. Other than the building works on the current terminal, including the construction of a new cargo terminal, the masterplan features two major projects.
Runway extension
Aerial view of the airport, showing the progress of the runway extension works.
Phase 1 of the masterplan includes the expansion of existing runway 10/28 and is currently under construction. During the process of the project design, 80 Greek and 5 Danish civil engineers and scientists from other specialties have worked on the project. Both the runway and the taxiway will be extended by 1,150m, 1,000m out into the sea, resulting in a runway that will have a total length of 3,440m with an extra safety distance of 150m. Its width will be 50m while the taxiway’s width, which will be located at an axial distance of 183m from the runway, will be 23m. The new runway and taxiway sections, will be equipped with appropriate lighting and control systems that will extend a further 750m into the sea. The completion date was set in July 2011, but due to financial problems of the manufacturing company, reactions of environmental organizations and residents of the surrounding areas, fearing ecological dangers by extenting land into the sea, the project has been held back. A new completion date for December 2012 was set,[27][28] only to be pushed further back to July 2013 and then December 2015.[29][30] The expansion of the runway will allow for the landing of larger aircraft, such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, and increase safety, as the aircraft will have greater flexibility and visual contact on days with bad weather conditions.
Terminal 2
Phase 2 of the masterplan has heralded the construction of a new larger terminal, together with a new apron for 36 aircraft, of which 14 will be stationed at contact place. The second phase of the masterplan will drasticly increase the status of the airport and eliminate existing passenger traffic problems, especially during the summer period. The new terminal will be able to accommodate 8 million passengers per year (in peak hours 2.800 passengers for departures or arrivals) while the terminal’s total area is expected that it will be 115.000m².[31] In December 2010, the Greek government revealed that there are thoughts for the construction of the new terminal through private investing, the same way in which Athens International Airport was realised. Until now no further official announcement has been issued.
Macedonia International Airport masterplan
The new terminal.
The new terminal.
Map of the airport after the completion of both phases.
Incidents
On 12 August 1997,[32] Olympic Airways Flight 171, a Boeing 727-200 registered as SX-CBI[33] inbound from Ellinikon International Airport, overran the runway and crashed into the sea. None of the 35 passengers and crew were killed but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.[34]
On 17 December 1997, Aerosvit Flight 241, a Yakovlev Yak-42, operating the route from Odessa, Ukraine to Thessaloniki, lost contact with the airport's air traffic control and during the second attempt the aircraft crashed in the Pierian mountains, near Mount Olympus. A total of 70 people, passengers and crew, 41 of which were Greeks, were killed.
On 4 July 2000, HA-LCR, a chartered Malév Flight 262 Tu-154 landed on its belly. The crew had forgotten to lower the undercarriage and the plane skidded 400 metres (440 yards) on the runway. Thanks to the plane's robust construction and the engines' high position, the plane was able to become airborne again as the pilots applied full throttle. It circled while the crew lowered the undercarriage and landed safely. There were no injuries. It was considered uneconomical to repair the aircraft. The aircraft still remains on site,[35] although airline markings have been obscured and heavily depleted of re-usable spares.
On 22 January 2010, a SunExpress plane flying from Germany to Turkey carrying 69 passengers made a safe emergency landing in "Macedonia". According to a Greek civil aviation official who declined to be named, the pilot had received a bomb threat call on his mobile phone.
On 15 Jun 2013, AMC Airlines flight A2-921 a Boeing 737-800 on behalf of Astra Airlines, registration SU-BPZ, from Novosibirsk (Russia) with 160 passengers, landed on runway 16 but overran the end of the runway by about 110 metres (360 ft) and came to a stop with all gear on soft ground. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received minor if any damage.[36]
References
"Airfield Data". Hellenic Civilian Aviation Authority. www.hcaa-eleng.gr. 2005-04-21. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
"Monthly and annual statistical data for 2011". Hellenic Civilian Aviation Authority. www.hcaa.gr. Retrieved 2011-04-01. (Greek)
Αεροπορικά εισιτήρια απο και προς το αεροδρόμιο Θεσσαλονίκης. hcaa-eleng.gr. Retrieved on 2013-08-20.
"Διεθνής Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Θεσσαλονίκης `Μακεδονία` (ΚΑΘΜ)". Hellenic Civilian Aviation Authority. www.hcaa.gr. Retrieved 2007-08-04. (Greek)
"Statistical data of Thessaloniki airport " Makedonia " for the period 1994 – 2010" (xls). Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (in Greek). www.hcaa.gr. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
L, J (28 January 2014). "Aegean Airlines S14 New Routes Update as of 28JAN14". Airline Route. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
http://airlineroute.net/2014/03/25/az-jun14/
"Official Journal of the European Union C 321/6". EUR-Lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
"Πρόγραμμα πτήσεων". Retrieved 24 November 2013.
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Our route network | Flight information. British Airways. Retrieved on 2013-08-20.
http://www.easyjet.com/de/billigfluge/Thessaloniki/Manchester
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"SAS is launching 45 new routes in 2013!". flysas.com. November 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
"Official Journal of the European Union C 85/13". EUR-Lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
http://skyexpress.forth-crs.gr/greek/npgres.exe?PM=BO#RoutesTable
http://airlineroute.net/2014/03/18/qs-s14/
http://www.deskas.de/fluege.htm
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=654006241328662
http://www.travelinside.ch/travelinside/de/notdArchiv.php?we_objectID=29498.
http://www.vueling.com/en
"РАСПИСАНИЕ ПОЛЕТОВ ВЕСНА-ЛЕТО 2013 РАСПИСАНИЕ РЕКЛАМНОЕ ВОЗМОЖНЫ ИЗМЕНЕНИЯ". Retrieved 13 May 2013.
Cheap Flights - Offers & Deals Online. Fly Thomas Cook (2012-10-01). Retrieved on 2013-08-20.
"Rainbow Tours - Bilety Lotnicze". Rainbow Tours. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
"Flight Timetables – Oslo Airport". Retrieved 16 February 2012.
"ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ". 5 July 2010. p. 14. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
"Transatlantic flights in 2013". agelioforos.gr. 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-09-01. (Greek)
""ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ" Υπερατλαντικό αεροδρόμιο το 2015". Retrieved 9 March 2013.
"Έγκριση 3ης Παράτασης προθεσμίας περαίωσης των εργασιών του έργου :"Επέκταση διαδρόμου προσαπογειώσεων αεροσκαφών 10-28 (μετά παραλλήλου τροχοδρόμου) Κρατικού Αερολιμένα Θεσσαλονίκης "ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ""". 21 June 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
"Airport terminal masterplan". Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Retrieved 23 June 2011. (Greek)
"Accident description". http://aviation-safety.net/.
"Photo Search results". www.airliners.net. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
"Accident description". www.aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
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"The Aviation Herald". www.avherald.com. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
External links
Portal icon Greece portal
Portal icon Aviation portal
Media related to Thessaloniki International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
Accident history for SKG at Aviation Safety Network
Airport information for LGTS at Great Circle Mapper.
Current weather for LGTS at NOAA/NWS
Airport information for LGTS at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
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